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Despite recent snowfall, Lubbock not normally known for White Christmas

This year's snowfall in Lubbock is unusual, and more may be on its way, according to the National Weather Service.

Bridget Childress’s 3-year-old son romped about in the remains of Lubbock’s white Christmas on Sunday night, relishing the patchy blanket of snow covering Tech Terrace Park.

The second white Christmas in three years is not commonplace for Childress and her son, as the 3-year-old had never seen it before.

At least 1 inch of snow on the ground Dec. 25 denotes an official white Christmas, according to the National Weather Service.

The Childress family, visiting from the Austin area, picked a good time to visit Lubbock for a snowy holiday: In the last 100 years, there has been a white Christmas six times.

“It just seems that it’s always been spiritually uplifting to have a little snow on the ground on Christmas,” said Childress’s father-in law, Gary Perry.

Perry, who lived in Lubbock before he moved to Florida a decade ago, said the snow on the ground is great, and he does not yet miss the 72-degree temperatures in his Titusville, Fla., home.

Two former Texas Tech students said they were surprised to find snow in Lubbock, although the cold temperatures were typical Lubbock for them.

Chase and Jennifer Lively, 2008 graduates visiting from Mesquite, said Lubbock’s snowfall was among the first they saw when they were students.

Jennifer, originally from Abilene, and Chase, from San Antonio, rarely saw snow in their hometowns, they said.

However, the resulting ice and poor road conditions stand out a little more to the couple than the nostalgia of a white Christmas.

Despite the diminishing white spots in Lubbock, a chance for more snow is possible overnight, according to the National Weather Service.

Temperatures will rise later in the week, said meteorologist Jason Jordan, eliminating the chance for the snow to stay on the ground for a prolonged period.

At noon Sunday, Jordan said that the temperature crept above 32 degrees, and the snow melted on most of the roadways in town.

However, that melted snow has a good chance to freeze overnight when the temperatures dip into the upper 20s, he said.

Despite the two recent white Christmases, Jordan said there is no way of knowing if this is going to be an ongoing trend. He imagines there may have been white Christmases overlooked in the past in some areas, with new ways to record precipitation evolving since.

This year, there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground at the Preston Smith Lubbock International Airport, Jordan said.

Lubbock’s five previous white Christmas days were in 2009, 2004, 1997, 1991 and 1939, with a Dec. 25 record 3.5 inches on the ground in 1939.

To comment on this story:

thomas.magelssen@lubbockonline.com • 766-8723

leesha.faulkner@lubbockonline.com • 766-8706

This year's snowfall in Lubbock is unusual, and more may be on its way, according to the National Weather Service.